Advent is a time for waiting, longing and expectation. As we wait in expectation for the birth of Christ, we renew our calling to work toward justice and the places where our faith can ready us to help heal God's world.

Auburn Recommends this great Advent resource from the National Council of Churches, Words Matter. Click here for this free Advent resource. 

Auburn’s Acts of Faith Advent Film Series This Auburn Advent documentary series explores the season of waiting and expectation through the lens of the African experience where longing for change has created movements that led to justice. We see how our actions can redefine mission and create global change. Documentary film has the power to tell a story and to spark a conversation that otherwise wouldn’t happen with people we otherwise wouldn’t know. Through these films we see our acts of faith can respond to our call to help heal the world.

Acts of Faith Advent Film Series Guiding Challenge
Engaging in these stories during the Advent season challenges participants to consider a mindfulness toward their individual and community mission to seek justice through their acts of faith.

 Advent Week of Peace
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
Click here to watch a clip of Pray the Devil Back to Hell  
A civil war had been raging for years between the dictatorship of the Liberian president and the rebels who called themselves the LURD and terrorize the people in the country. One unlikely heroine is inspired by a dream to bring Christian women together to start a peace movement. She begins within her own church and asks that all women from all churches are brought together. At one meeting, a Muslim woman goes up to the podium to address the church and tells them that she is moved by what they were doing and that Muslim women need to be brought into the peace movement. With this extraordinary mission, the women dressed in plain white clothes and covered their heads, as a way to shed any differences of class or religion among them. The final mission for the women was to ensure a democratic election and elect a woman into the office of the presidency. The power of the women prevails. The first female president is elected. The women can finally go home. Mission accomplished. Peace reigns in Liberia.

 Advent Week of Joy
Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai
Click here to watch a clip of Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai . 
Taking Root tells the dramatic story of the late Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy—a movement for which this charismatic woman became an iconic inspiration and continued source of joy.

 Advent Week of Love
A Small Act 
Click here to watch a clip of this A Small Act  
When Hilde Back sponsored a young, impoverished Kenyan student, she thought nothing of it. She paid roughly $15 dollars per term to keep him in primary school. She certainly never expected to hear from him, but many years later, she does. Chris Mburu has been thinking of his “angel” Hilde since he was a boy. The small contribution she made paid off – Chris went all the way to Harvard. Now, he’s a respected UN human rights lawyer, dedicating his life to battling genocide and crimes against humanity. Chris decides to replicate Hilde’s generosity by starting his own scholarship fund, and he names it after her. This scholarship will educate bright kids in his village so they can also succeed and give back. But Chris is stunned when Kenya’s public schools start failing, and only two new students qualify for sponsorship. Simultaneously, Kenya falls into ethnic-based election violence. After working on conflicts in neighboring countries, Chris knows that ignorance fuels ethnic hatred. Education has never been more important. Chris must decide what to do.

Looking for more film recommendations for your church community?  Email the Rev. Kellie Anderson-Picallo to find films that can help your congregation trouble the waters and heal the world. For a complete list of Auburn's Documentary Resources click here.